James Hartman

Sunflowers on the Water, Oil Painting

2022

Artist Comments
Artist James Hartman combines a vibrant still life with a view of the San Franciso Bay and the Berkeley hills in a captivating encaustic piece. Created on a cradled panel, James utilizes a collage of antique ephemera that offers great surface tones and textures finished with beeswax. He paints over the collage, fusing the painting into the wax with heat. “Sunflowers against the water is a still life set in a landscape with a little figural work included," says James. He shares his influences with nods to Matisse, The Society of Six, and Diebenkorn.

About the Artist
When James Hartman was in art school, he became fascinated with the Society of Six, a group of artists who painted en plein air (outdoors) and exhibited together in the San Francisco Bay Area during the early 20th Century. James's paintings of the Northern California landscape pay tribute to some of the great Bay Area artists of the past. His expressive scenes feel alive through his vibrant use of color and his painterly brushwork. James’s paintings have an immediate visual impact from a distance, yet up close, dissolve into a series of confident marks and strokes. There is a simultaneous complexity and steadiness in his flattened, color-blocked planes. Knowledge and observation are essential elements of James’s working practice. To this end, he spends a large proportion of his time painting on location. His body of work captures the fresh and sunlit essence of the coastal California hills.

Words that describe this painting: impressionism, bay, still life, sunflowers, expressive, boat, San Francisco Bay, Berkeley Hills, table, tablescape, coffee, tea, wine, flowers, collage, encaustic, mixed media, small, water, vase, impressionism, still life, oil painting

Sunflowers on the Water
James Hartman
Oil painting on cradled wood panel
Finished black edges
One-of-a-kind
Signed on back
2022
12 in. h x 12 in. w x 1.75 in. d
1 lbs. 4 oz.